Wednesday, December 26, 2012

What do Chuck Prophet and Richard Nixon have in common? Not politics, I’ll tell you. What they do share is a birthplace—good old Whittier, Calif., a Quaker-founded town in the foothills of Los Angeles that also hosted famed food writer M. F. K Fisher’s formative years (and, I admit, my own). Prophet’s 2012 album Temple Beautiful doesn’t pay tribute to Whittier, instead taking as inspiration the wily and beautiful ways of San Francisco, his adopted hometown. On Prophet’s most recent visit to Healdsburg’s glitzy main square, a long way from gritty Whittier Boulevard, he shouted out “Beverly Healdsburg!” Let’s see what Sebastopol gets nicknamed when Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express play on Saturday, Dec. 29, at Hopmonk Tavern. 230 Petaluma Ave., Sebastopol. 8:30pm. $15—$18. 707.829.7300.